I used to go to church fairly regularly, satisfied with the thought that I’d been christened and confirmed and that I’d never done anybody much harm. I believed the Bible — what little I knew about it. I believed about God and that Jesus Christ died for all. I said my prayers and considered I wasn’t as bad as some people. I hoped I stood a chance of getting to heaven somehow or other, although it didn’t seem worth thinking about very much.
But God didn’t let things stop there — I became very conscious of my sins. Now, I knew that I’d been confirmed, but I wasn’t sure whether I was christened or not. So I began searching through old church records, and finally I found that I’d certainly been christened.
Now, I thought, I’ll be satisfied.
But it wasn’t enough.
I used to ask different people’s opinions. One person said, “Christening doesn’t make any difference; it’s the life you lead.”
This didn’t help much.
Another said, “You must be born again.”
I thought, “That’s all very well, but how can I be born again?”
Now all this started me praying very earnestly. I confessed my sins, changed my ways, and tried to do what was right, but my sins just seemed to get worse. At last I thought, “If the Bible is God’s Word, I ought to be able to find what I need in it,” and so I made up my mind to read the New Testament every Sunday. I would go into a room by myself and read it very carefully.
I also read any tract that I could get hold of. I remember in one of them it said, “You may go to church regularly and not be a Christian.” I thought, “That sounds like me.”
Another said, “There is salvation for you if you want it.” I thought to myself, “I want it, but how can I get it?”
This went on for nearly a year, and one Sunday afternoon while reading the Bible I heard in my mind, “You must accept Jesus as your Saviour,” just as clearly as if it had been spoken.
Decisive Moment
I began to think about this, when it came again, “You must accept Jesus Christ as your Saviour.”
I said to myself, “So I will!”
I put down my Bible, went upstairs, locked the door, got on my knees, and my prayer was something like this: “O God, I’m a sinner; I believe Jesus Christ died for sinners and that You raised Him from the dead. I will accept Him as my Saviour, and with Your help I will do what is right.”
Tears came into my eyes; I felt myself praising God and saying, “O God, my Father!” I felt I could say “my Father” without a doubt. I could’ve cried like a baby, and the Spirit of God gave me assurance that I had become a child of God.
Everything seemed different. I was born again; I was a new creation in Christ Jesus, and I knew it. Then in a flash it came to me that there must be thousands like me who don’t know God’s way of salvation. I thought to myself, “Tracts helped me; I will help others, and with God’s help I will give them out as long as I can.” Since then I have given away thousands of tracts and can honestly say that the last few years have been the happiest time of my life.
I learned that we become children of God through faith in Jesus Christ, not by being christened or confirmed or going to church — not even in “being good.” Accept Christ as your Saviour; believe Him, trust Him, rest your soul upon Him, and this new life will be yours. “He that hath the Son hath life” (1 John 5:1212He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. (1 John 5:12)).
Jesus Christ isn’t just for those who grew up in Christian homes. Find out about a husband and wife who independently discovered their need of Christ in I Believe in Jesus Too!